-Carmela
This afternoon I am waiting for the arrival of my mother who comes from Fougamou, she will be there to give me hot water and help me with the children because it is becoming more and more complicated. I find myself wondering if giving birth every two years is a good idea.
Daniel: grandma! Grandma! Grandma came!
Immediately his brothers came out of the house to welcome him. I was changing Loïc who had just dropped a bomb on us.
mom taking Loïc: look how strong he is. Eh ! Eh !
Me: Did you have a good trip?
Mom it's all right. And you ? How are you doing ?
Me: fatigue. 4 young children is not easy.
Mom: when you decided to have children every two years. An intellectual!
me: what is the connection with my level of studies? How long did I cry children here? Today God gave me I will not embarrass myself.
Mom: That’s good. Where is your husband's daughter?
Me casually: surely in his room, what do I know?
Mom: hum!
she took us to the good talk of the village. Not the doctored bullshit you find in the city. And above all, good red cassava.
Mom: Daniel is going to call your big sister, where is she?
Daniel: in her room but mom said we shouldn't talk to her.
mom: go call him, I'll send you.
Within seconds the two were back.
Mom: hello.
Anita: hello ma’am.
Mom: she’s grandma, not madam. I am your grandmother. How are you ?
Anita shyly: yes.
And mom started talking to him. ask her questions about herself, I preferred to leave the room.
Mom: Carmela, you cried over the children for a long time, it's not to mistreat someone's child. He's an innocent man.
I'm exasperated: I need to specify which woman it is. It is important to be clear who we are talking about here. We're talking about a woman who made me lose weight, who made me spend sleepless nights, who made me cry.
Mom: So take it out on her, not on a little girl who maybe doesn't know what happened between you. adult problems, resolve it between adults because if you attack a child it means you are cowardly and weak!
Me : …
Mom: she is little, 7 years old. She has never had maternal affection, give it to her and you will see that you will count in her life more even than her own mother.
I can not.
Mom: force yourself. This little one is here for a long time, for years. In the end it’s your marriage that will take a hit.
Me: what a good marriage?! I'm the one who does everything here.
Mom: Carmela your husband is having financial difficulties at the moment. 3 years ago were you paying the bills? The food ? Don't be a bad woman.
Me: so it’s me who must suffer? Meanwhile the other two children live peacefully. They each receive 150,000 f per month while I have to get by with 100,000 f for 4 children.
mom: because you work. When he had you were suffering? India, Spain, Ghana, where haven’t you gone?
Me: for my fertility problem.
Mom: who paid? From your departure to your return, who financed it?
Me : …
Mom: he took out a loan for land, we rolled it over. Since then he has been fighting in court and it’s money. Carmela if he gets this land back who will it belong to?
Me : …
Mom: will the land be there for Anita? Nestor? Ariadne? Will it be for the mothers of these children? Or will it be for his legitimate wife and by extension his children?
Me : …
mom: think carefully when you do things.
Me: I can't keep this little one, it's beyond my strength.
Mom: You don't like to listen when people talk to you. your husband is aware of what it costs you to take it as a child, he has not forgotten the past but does not push the envelope. Starve a child? How angry is Carmela? I'm not talking about putting her in public school, not buying her clothes. I'm talking to you about refusing your food to a child. That's no longer anger, it's the vampire.
Me: say if you want. Say. I'm not going to feed Jean-Daniel's bastards with MY money, especially not when the mother pissed me off. I have the vampire, yes I accept. but I'm not going to maintain the house, pay the bills, take care of my children MORE of his bastards. I say no !
Mom: That’s good.
She went to make them something to eat. That's his job. She even gave the little one food, which she enjoys.
.
jean-Daniel: your mother had to arrive for the child to gain weight.
Me: she first came here in what condition? Was she fat? And you come to make noise, did you pay for the food? Tchip!
Jean-Daniel: thank you Carmela.
he came out of the room with his car keys. The last of my worries.
The next day my best friend, Célestine, came to visit me. As mom was resting, we took the opportunity to do kongossa.
Célestine: it seems that the doctors haven't found anything since then.
me: I'm sure it's AIDS.
Célestine: they did the test 4 times but nothing. Tuberculosis also nothing.
Me: I can't even feel sorry for her. The girl made me suffer too much.
Célestine: but if she doesn't recover, her daughter will stay here.
me: his father will send him to boarding school. I can't stand seeing her in my house anymore.
Célestine: but Carmela tell me the truth. Did you make it like this?
Me: and how would I have gone about it? what is this disease that I am capable of giving him and which cannot be detected and which does not act on me? Or do you also want to insinuate that I'm a witch?
Celestine: I'm just asking. As soon as you gave birth Daniel, she started getting sick.
me: so instead of taking advantage of the grace of having been able to carry a pregnancy to term for once, instead of taking care of the child I cried so much for, I went to sit at the nganga's house to cast a spell on him?
Celestine: …
-Anita
If only grandma could stay here longer. she is nice to me. She feeds me, washes me, talks to me. Sometimes she even accompanies me to school. Since she is here I can stay in the living room, playing with the others even if I see that mom Carmela is not happy.
This morning she was the one who woke me up and took me to the shower. I was able to have a glass of milk with a sandwich and she gave me 200f for a snack and we walked to school together. On the way she bought some mangoes and gave me two.
Grandma: at noon.
Me: at noon grandma.
Xoxo
